Just an Assignment
by hermiine
Summary: A mother disappears during the night and Mac can’t help getting personally involved in the case. COMPLETE
1. Part 1

**Just an Assignment **

**Author:** hermiine

**Summery:** A mother disappears during the night and Mac can't help getting personally involved in the case.

**Rating:** 15 years and older

**Spoilers:** Takes place after Death at the Mosque so I say everything up until then just to be sure.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters and with my current daily salary of about 7 dollars it will be a while until I can save up and buy them.

**AN:** I'm going to break every unofficial rule there is concerning fan fiction including some I made up for myself just a couple of months ago. First I start by apologizing for it. It hasn't be betad, I've only got this part written out so far (infrequent postings) and I haven't researched anything for it so there is bound to be several mistakes in it (from here on we'll refer to it as author's privilege, OK?). The truth is however that if I don't start posting it, I will never finish it and I hope this will be the less of two evils. So if I haven't discouraged everyone from reading the story yet and there's still someone left, I can only tell you feedback is very welcome and appreciated ...

**Part 1 **

"Hey, are you on your way out?" Harm had just entered the bullpen of JAG HQ when he almost walked into Mac who was walking in the other direction.

"Yeah," Mac nodded. She sounded rather stressed.

"Will you be back for lunch?" Harm asked hopefully.

"I have no idea when I'll be back. This could take all day," she looked at him. She always looked at him so attentively nowadays. Since he wasn't really talking to her about what was going on with Mattie and everything, she seemed to try to find out simply by watching him. "I'm so sorry, Harm, but I really have to go now. Bud is waiting downstairs." She reached out her hand towards him and slightly brushed by his arm before turning around and rushing out.

Mac had been called into General Cresswell's office as soon as she had entered the doors to the office. A Marine Captain hadn't showed up for duty in the morning and when they hadn't been able to catch her on the phone, her CO had decided to send some people over to her house to see what was going on. There they had found her five-year-old daughter alone in the house. Mac had been ordered to go over there and start investigating what had happened to the Captain and her husband who according to records also lived there.

Bud and Mac drove up in front of the house and got out of the car. As she waited for Bud to catch up with her, she took a thorough look at the green house. It looked like any other house in this lower middle-class neighborhood. On the lawn in front of the house there were some toys lying around and it was obvious that here lived a family.

They knocked on the door and was immediately let in by a corporal, who quickly introduced himself as Johnston. Mac could hear a child running around and screaming in the other room. She was surprised that the child didn't really seem upset. It sounded more like she was playing.

"Hasn't social services come yet?" Mac asked.

"No, we called them again just before you got here, but apparently they're totally backed up and they can't send anyone over for two hours at least."

Mac raised her eyebrows.

"Do you work with my mom too?" A little brown haired girl had come into the hallway as well. She was still in her nightgown and she was carrying a naked doll in her left hand.

Mac got down on her knees and started talking to the girl "No, I don't, but I've been sent here to see if I can try to find her for you." The color of the little girl's eyes were blue and Mac noticed some crumbs of what looked like chocolate cookies in the corner of her mouth.

"She had already gone to work when I woke up," she stated matter of factly, like it was quite normal for that to happen.

"Was she there when you went to bed last night?" Mac continued to ask.

"Yeah, she read me the story about the dinosaur."

"Ma'am, I'll go and check out the house," Bud suggested.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Bud Roberts," Mac introduced Bud. She didn't want to scare the girl by having strangers just walking around looking at her house. That was unpleasant for most adults and probably not that different for a child, she thought. "He has a son that's a little older than you are. Is it OK if he takes a look through your house?"

The little girl seemed to consider that for a while before she nodded a little. "It's OK, but you can't touch my toys."

"I promise I won't," Bud assured her.

"What's your name?" she turned back to Mac.

"I'm Sarah Mackenzie, but you can call me Mac. All of my friends do that. You're Andrea, right?"

"Everyone, except my mom, calls me Andy."

"So does your father call you Andy as well."

"I guess," Andy seemed very little interested in talking about her father. "I'm hungry."

"You haven't had breakfast yet, have you?" Mac said and Andy shook her hand in response.

"He gave me a cookie from the cookie jar," she pointed at the Corporal who looked a bit emarrassed.

"You think we can find something in the kitchen?" Mac asked.

"We've got corn flakes. You can have too if you want." She grabbed hold of Mac's hand and started rushing off to the kitchen.

Five minutes later she was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereals and milk that Mac had provided for her in front of her.

"Andy," Mac sat down in front of the girl. She had resisted to put all of the dirty dishes that was standing on the crowded counter and in the sink in the dishwasher. "Was your father there when you went to bed last night?"

She thought for a while before she shook her head "No."

"Do you know where he was?"

"He often doesn't come home before I've gone to bed."

"And he wasn't here this morning either?"

The girl had started to look more and more serious during the conversation. Mac could see that she was now a bit worried about where her parents were. "Is it true what that man says, that Mom isn't at work."

"Yeah, that's true," Mac said. She desperately tried to come up with some thing to say that would comfort her. "It will ... It will be alright, you'll see."

Mac continued to talk to the little girl until Bud came back down and into the kitchen. He motioned for Mac to step out so he could talk to her.

"I'll be right back," she told Andy before getting up from the chair.

"You found something?" Mac asked Bud.

"Well, the house is a bit untidy. There are things lying around pretty much everywhere, so it's hard to see if there's something different. What I did notice is that there seems to be no female civilian clothes here at all, just the uniforms, and there's no car in the garage. I called Coates and she's not quite done with all of the hospitals, but so far she hasn't found anything there. However it seems like Mr. Matthews spent the night sobering up in the brig. He got into a fight at a bar called The Rooster yesterday. Apparently he called his wife to get bailed out, but she never showed up at the station."

"OK," Mac thought about the new information "We need to talk to the husband and the people she worked with," Mac said. She knew Bud already knew this, but sometimes it helped to think aloud.

"The husband won't be available for another couple of hours. They've decided to charge him for the bar fight and right now he's talking to his lawyer."

"You think you can start the interviews without me?" Mac looked back towards the kitchen "I don't want to leave her before social services get here."

"I understand. It won't be a problem I can start without you. Call me when I should pick you up."

"Yeah, I will," Mac nodded.

"She's a pretty little girl, isn't she?"

Mac just nodded again.

After returning into the kitchen, Mac continued to talk to Andy. Sometimes asking her questions to try to find out more things that could help her in the search for Captain Matthews, but also just talking about normal everyday things. After about half an hour they went up to Andy's room and Andy showed Mac her toys and they read a few books together. Mac realized that Andy was a really smart girl, but she had definite troubles to concentrate on anything for a long time and the activities changed frequently.

Three hours later Mac had just decided that she was going to start making lunch for the two of them. She was enjoying her time spent with the little girl, but she couldn't help getting annoyed at social services for taking so long to come over there. What if Andy had been forced to wait with that marine that had found her alone in the house. He had obviously had a very little idea about how to handle the little girl and she had sent him back to Quantico saying she could wait alone with the girl.

Just as they were walking down the stairs there was a quick knock on the door before it was opened.

"Hello," they could both hear a strong female voice. "This is the Children Protection Services."

"Hello," Mac stepped out into the hallway closely followed by Andy now seemed rather shy, almost hiding behind Mac. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie and this is Andy."

"I'm Alexandra Rowings. Have you packed your things? We're in a real hurry now, you see," she said stressed at the same time as she took a look around the house and on her face the judgement the family who lived her had gotten was displayed on her face.

Andy shook her head slightly.

"Andy, go up and start picking out some toys to bring and I'll talk to Ms Rowings for a minute."

Andy seemed to want to protest, but Mac gave her a stern look and she started walking upstairs again.

"Why did it take so long for you to get here?" Mac started asking.

"We're busy."

"Too busy to make sure a five-year-old girl is alright?" Mac took a deep breath "So what's going to happen to her now."

"Let's just hope her mother reappears soon or that her father gets out of the troubles he's in, because right now there really isn't room for her anywhere," for a second the woman standing in front of her seemed utterly upset and sad to Mac, but after just a few seconds she had put her mask back in place. "So I'm taking her to our temporary housing downtown."

"An orphanage?"

"Well ..." Ms Rowings was at a loss for words and just looked down on her feet.

"I'm going to go upstairs and help her pack," Mac concluded and turned around.

Less than ten minutes later Mac was standing outside the house watching the car with Ms Rowings and Andy pull away. She picked up her cell phone and dialed Bud's number. She hadn't felt comfortable letting Andy leave with the social worker, but she knew she didn't have a choice.

* * *

Mac looked over at Bud and noticed him looking down on his watch for the seventh time in the last half-an-hour. It was much past normal office hours and sitting in her office still working on the case, they were now the last people there. Suddenly she felt really selfish having kept him there for so long, when he probably needed to go home to his family. Just because she didn't have anyone waiting for her didn't mean it was the same for everyone else.

"What do you say we call it a day?" Mac said and Bud couldn't help sighing slightly in relief.

Mac got up from her chair and started putting her things in order. She took the notes she had made during the day and put them in her briefcase. She doubted she'd be able to sleep much tonight and she could just as well continue to work on the case at home.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Colonel," Bud had taken a quick stop by his office before popping his head into Mac's again.

"Ehm Bud. Just blame it on me, OK?" Mac said referring to Harriet.

"Oh, I was already going to do that," Bud smiled.

"Good."

Together they walked out to the parking lot. Today had been a very nice day weather-wise. The sun had shone all day and even though it was a little past eight o'clock now it was still quite warm for the season.

On the drive home Mac thought about what they had learned today. Everything so far seemed to point to Captain Matthews having left voluntarily. Her car was gone, just like her clothes and they hadn't found any signs of forced entry on the house. The interviews with her colleagues hadn't been very helpful. They didn't seem to know all that much about her, but one of them had said he thought she'd never really seemed happy with her life and lately even less. Tomorrow they were finally going to interview her husband and hopefully they would learn more then.

But what made them all so puzzled was of course that in case she really had left voluntarily, it meant that she had abandoned her daughter all alone at the house. Mac wondered how the little girl was doing now. Mr. Matthews had been let out of the brig and she wasn't sure she should hope that he had gone to get Andy out of social services' care. Andy hadn't seemed to think her father cared a lot about her. In the afternoon Mac had been by Andy's kindergarten and the personnel there had in some ways affirmed there. The father had never been by and Andy also rarely spoke of him. No one there knew the mother well either and between the lines Mac had gotten the impression that they all thought she was a bit weird.

For dinner Mac warmed up some left-overs from yesterday and she sat down with her notes in front of her going over the things they knew over and over again without feeling like she was getting anywhere. She wrote down a list on actions to take tomorrow. Eventually she decided that she wasn't getting anywhere for now with the little information she had and instead she picked up the file of one of the other cases that were currently on her plate and she had neglected today.

About three hours after Mac had left JAG HQ there was a knock on her door. Getting late calls and visits rarely mean something good, she thought. Before opening the door, she carefully looked through the peephole. Standing outside her door was Harm and the sight of his exhaustion and sadness made her open up the door right away.

TBC


	2. Part 2

**AN: **Thank you all so much for the encouragement concerning the story. I know this is short, but it was the best way to break it up in parts. The next one will be longer, I promise.

**Part 2 **

Standing there in the doorpost he looked very different from earlier today when he had been composed and in control. Now he was so obviously tired and exhausted, but in a way he also looked like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulder. In the corner of his eyes she saw a tear that was threatening to break loose and travel down his cheek. Mac motioned him to step inside the apartment.

"She woke up," he got out. He took a step closer to her and she immediately wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.

"Is she OK?" Mac asked with fear in her voice and she sighed in relief when she felt him nodding against her shoulder in response.

"She's ... she's my Mattie," he said. She could feel him crying now. All the tensions that he had kept all to himself these last weeks were finally now let loose. "The look in her eyes when she realized that her father had left her again ... I just ... I will never be able to make that up to her."

"But you're there for her," she tried to comfort him. It pained her to see him so upset and sad, but she was still relieved that he was finally coming to her and letting her in. He had needed space and she had given him that, but it had hurt so much to see him take on all the troubles alone.

They remained standing together for several minutes. Mac would have been able to tell you exactly how many, but even his wage sense of time was completely lost for Harm.

"Do you want some coffee?" she asked him when she felt him having clamed down.

"I'm sorry, Mac. I know it's too late to show up like this unannounced and everything. I don't want to be any trouble for you."

Mac took a step back from him so she could look straight into his eyes "Harm, it's never going to be too late for you to come to me. Whenever you need me, promise me you'll never hesitate to ..."

"If you do the same," he interrupted her.

"I do."

"Coffee would be wonderful, Mac."

"Just go and sit down on the couch and I'll be right there," Mac said and left to start the coffee.

"So what are the doctors saying now?" Mac asked him when she returned to the living room. Harm was back to his old self. He still looked tired, but he was now in much more control.

"This is positive of course. She doesn't seem to have suffered any brain damage, but ... they still don't think she'll ever walk again."

"But she's alive."

"She's alive," he nodded. Harm didn't have to say anything, just him being there now made them both feel like they were together on a deeper level than they had before. He was letting her in.

"Mac," he said when she returned after having gotten two steaming cups of coffee out of the kitchen. "I'd like your help with something."

"Anything," Mac smiled.

"I got custody of Mattie again," he started talking. He knew this was probably going to hurt her. Not the fact that he had custody of Mattie, but the fact that he hadn't told her about it. He reached out his hand and squeezed hers tenderly "And you know it won't even be possible for us to stay in my apartment when Mattie gets out of the hospital. I mean the elevator doesn't even work half the time."

Mac smiled and she lifted her coffee cup up to take a sip.

"So I need to start looking for a house again and I need some help with that ... from someone who knows what Mattie and I like, but most of all someone who has great taste and ..."

"I'll go with you house-hunting, if you want to," Mac smiled reassuringly at him. All he needed to do was ask her, flattery wasn't needed.

"Do you have time after work tomorrow?"

Mac nodded "Sure."

"The general gave me the afternoon off tomorrow so I can go and see Mattie and talk to the doctors about her treatment."

"That's good."

They continued to talk for another hour and a half, until Harm decided it was definitely time for him to return home.

"Harm," Mac said as he was already half way out the door and they had already said good-bye.

"Yeah," he looked over at her.

"Thank you."

"I should be thanking you," he protested.

"No," Mac slowly moved to grab a hold of his hand "Thank you for letting me in. It hasn't been easy to watch you ... and I know I've put you through exactly the same thing ... so many times before and now I finally realize exactly how much it hurts when you're pushed away."

"Mac, I haven't done it to punish you, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do," Mac sighed out "I guess we're just a lot alike sometimes. We make the same mistakes."

"Yeah, we do," Harm nodded sadly.

"I'm done making that mistake," Mac said and looked him straight into her eyes. She hoped he would trust the sincerity he'd see there.

"So am I, Mac."

A minute later Mac stood by her window and watched him drive away. She felt better about her and Harm than she had in a very long time.

TBC


	3. Part 3

**AN: **As I promised this part is longer than the last one. Thanks to everyone who reviewed or sent feedback. It's very much appreciated. Thanks to Alex, this part has been betaed.

**Part 3 **

Even though they had worked hard all morning and afternoon, she and Bud were no closer to finding out where Captain Matthews was. However everything that they had found out made them almost completely certain that she had in fact abandoned her family and house willingly.

The talk with her husband hadn't been very pleasant, however informative. He seemed convinced that she had left him and was in fact furious that she hadn't brought the girl along. Before going to meet him Mac had already talked to the social worker who had been quite disturbed by the fact that Mr. Matthews had made it very clear to them that he wanted nothing to do with his daughter. Mac wasn't sure if the social worker had just wanted to get Andy off her table or was upset about the fact that at the moment it looked like Andy had been abandoned by both of her parents.

Right now Mac was heading over to the place where Andy was currently living. It was really a gray-area if you could really call this part of her work-duties, but she had promised Harm that she'd help him look for a house after work and she really needed to know if Andy was OK where she was.

There were several minutes before anyone came to open up the door after Mac had rung the bell of the big house. Eventually a twenty-something blond girl opened up with a look that was definitely annoyed at being disturbed from whatever she was doing. There was a lot of noise coming from the house. Many different kinds of music was played, all very loudly and though some of it could have been of Mac's taste, it all blended together and sounded just awful. Somewhere in the house were a girl and a boy who fought loudly and every now and then screams to be quiet was heard through the house. Mac wondered how long it would take any normal person to go insane here.

"I'm Colonel Mackenzie. I'm here to see Andy."

"Andy?"

"Andrea Matthews."

"Oh that little girl who came here yesterday. I'll show you to the office."

The young woman turned around and Mac followed her into the house, through a corridor and into something that was apparently referred to as the office. In there sat Ms Rowings with a cup of coffee in her one hand and a file in the other. The blond girl just left Mac there without announcing her.

"Mhm," Mac said and Ms Rowings looked up from the file. "I'm here to see Andy."

"Yeah, of course."

'At least it's a good sign that she remembers who Andy is and that I called earlier today,' Mac thought to herself.

"I'll show you to her," the social worker got up from her chair.

"Have you found anywhere for her to stay yet?" Mac asked hoping to get a positive answer now even more than before.

"No," was the short answer. "She should be in here," Ms Rowings opened the door to a room with a bunk bed and two bureaus. Mac recognized the backpack she had helped Andy pack yesterday that now lay beside the bed. Andy was sitting on the bed and looked up at the two adults when she heard them enter the room.

"Mac," the girl immediately let go of the doll she'd been hugging close to her like she was trying to comfort her and ran over to Mac and threw her arms around her neck. "I want to go home." Her whole body shook as she began to cry into Mac's shoulder.

"Oh, Andy."

"Where's ... my ... mom?" she got out. Mac stroked her hands over her back, back and forth trying to calm and comfort.

"I'm so sorry, Honey, but I don't know where she is," Mac felt so helpless. She'd never been so helpless in her whole life. She sat down on the bed with Andy on her lap and hugged her close to her.

"I don't want to be here."

"Are they being nice to you?" Mac was glad that the girl had stopped crying so much that she could speak. Ms Rowings had left the room unnoticed by both Mac and Andy.

"They're OK, but they're not really my friends. You're still my friend, right?"

"Yeah, I'm your friend."

"No one read a story to me last night before I went to sleep."

"I can read a story to you now," Mac said hoping that that would distract to girl from everything around her a little bit. She leaned forward to pick one of the books out of the pink backpack. They both lay down on the bed, Mac started reading and it didn't take long until Andy had fallen asleep despite the noise that the thin bedroom door couldn't keep out. Mac wondered if she had slept at all last night. She put down the book and decided to go back to the office and see if she could do something to change Andy's situation to the better.

"I'm not letting Andy stay here another night," she walked into the office and stated to the rather surprised social worker with a strong and determined voice.

"That's not up to you to decide. I can't just pull foster families out of a hat, you know."

"Then I'll take her with me. She can stay with me until you find a permanent family for her or her mother comes back."

"You can't do that. You're not qualified to take care of her and besides we can't just let anyone walk in here and take a child with them home. It doesn't work that way. She has to stay here," Ms Rowings protested, but even she had started to sense that it would be in vain.

"You didn't have any problems leaving her in my care for several hours yesterday and then you hadn't even met me."

"It's against all rules and regulations."

Mac just shrugged her shoulders. "Do you honestly think she's better off here?"

Ms Rowings sighed deeply "OK, write your phone number and address here and tomorrow I'll send someone over to check everything out," she shook her head "This is not how we do things."

"I'll go and pack her things," Mac ended the conversation and left the room.

Carefully and as quiet as possible, to let Andy sleep as long as she could, she put all of Andy's things back in the pink backpack and the clothes in the blue sports trunk that had been pushed under the bed. Very few things had in fact been unpacked and Mac was soon done.

She sat down on the side of the bed and stroked the little girl over her brown curly hair.

"Andy, it's time to wake up again." Slowly Andy opened her eyes and looked up at Mac.

"Want to sleep more," she said sleepily.

"You can do that later. At my house. Would you like to stay at my house tonight?" Mac asked softly.

"Mhm," Andy nodded more awake now.

"I've got all your stuff packed so we can leave whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready," the answer came quickly.

"OK, good," Mac said and smiled "Let's go then." She reached out her hand towards Andy and the girl quickly grabbed a hold of it.

Outside the house Mac realized how glad she was that she had decided against buying a new corvette when her old had been smashed on Christmas Eve. This car was still no traditional family car, but when she bought the new car safety had for obvious reasons been a priority.

They got into the car and realizing what time it was Mac picked up her phone and dialed Harm's number.

"I just need to make a quick phone call and then we'll get going, OK?"

Andy nodded.

"Hey Harm," she said when he answered.

"I'm so sorry, Harm, but I can't come with you today."

At first there was no answer, but she could hear him trying to swallow down his anger and disappointment.

"I am really sorry, Harm," she repeated. Now he finally answered her.

(("If you had more important things to do, you should have just said so.")) Mac could hear that he was in the car and because of that he had no reason to keep his voice down and so he didn't.

"I know it was important to you. It was important to me too," she tried to convince him.

(("Well, obviously not enough. I'm not going to be your fall-back that you can just throw away when something better comes along. No way."))

"Harm, please don't be angry with me," Mac begged desperately "Just let me explain and I think you'll understand."

She was surprised when he hung up the phone.

"Is he angry with you?" Andy asked. She had obviously heard Harm's loud voice and drawn her own conclusions.

Mac started the car "Yeah, I guess he is a bit angry with me."

"Is he going to hit you?" Andy looked scared "My dad hits my mom when he's angry with her."

Mac looked over at her with a shocked expression at her face. It wasn't so much the fact that Mr. Matthews had been abusing his wife. Even though it hadn't come up so far in the investigation, she had definitely seen the signs during her interview with him. She was completely shocked just at the thought that someone would think that Harm would hit her. She had to remind herself that this little girl didn't even know Harm and was used to something very different from men.

"No," Mac turned off the engine of the car. "Harm, would never hit me. He's my best friend."

"But why is he angry with you?"

"Because I promised him that I'd come with him looking at a house. It's very important that he finds a house and when I said I couldn't come he got very disappointed," Mac tried to explain it to Andy and she seemed to accept that Mac wasn't in danger of being beaten.

Mac wondered if she should ask her more about her father. She wasn't exactly trained to talk to children about stuff like that, but on the other hand she had been just like this girl and that gave her insight to how the girl was feeling.

"Does your father hit you too?" Mac finally asked.

"No, just my mom. They fight and then Dad gets really, really angry and I hear my mom scream. Mom thinks I don't know, that I'm asleep, but I always wake up."

Mac didn't know what to say at first. She stroked the hair out of the girl's face in a comforting gesture. "That used to happen at my house too, when I was a little girl," she confided.

"Did it stop?" Andy looked over at her a little bit more hopeful.

"It stopped when my mother left."

"Is that what my mom did too?" Andy asked. Mac had dreaded this question. She wanted to be honest, but the truth might hurt her more.

"I don't know what happened to your mom, Andy. I'm still trying to find that out for sure."

"My father doesn't want me to come home," Andy stated matter of factly.

Mac swallowed hard "I know. I'm sorry about that."

"Can we go to your place now?" Andy didn't want to talk about the hard things anymore.

"Yeah," Mac agreed and once again she started the car and drove up. She tried to make up a mental picture of her refrigerator to see if there was anything she could offer to the girl as dinner. She realized that they needed to make a stop by the grocery store first of all. Andy wasn't going to tell the social worker who'd come by tomorrow afternoon that all she'd had eaten at Mac's place was warmed up pizza and Chinese food.

When they walked into the apartment, Mac began with showing Andy around and putting her bags in the guestroom and then she quickly started working on dinner. By now they were both rather hungry. Andy helped by setting the table and after 45 minutes they could sit down and eat.

The sleepy look in Andy's face told her that tonight was going to be an early night for the girl, so after dinner Mac helped her brush her teeth and got her into her night gown. When Mac turned the last page of the story with the dinosaur, Andy had fallen into a peaceful sleep.

Mac cleaned up the rest of the dinner and started a pot of coffee. She had some catching up to do since she had left early from work, but her thoughts kept drifting to Andy and what she'd do with her tomorrow. For a second she considered calling in sick, but she soon discarded that idea. Bringing Andy with her to work didn't seem like a very good idea either, but at the moment it seemed like the only option. Maybe she could get the general to give her some leave. It wasn't like Andy was staying with her forever.

Some quick knocks on the door woke Mac up from her thoughts. She hurried over to the door. She didn't want whomever it was to wake Andy up now that she was sleeping.

Seeing that it was Harm Mac opened up, but instead of opening the door up widely and offering him to enter, she just opened it wide enough for her to sneak out into the corridor. She hoped he hadn't come here to fight more with her, but even though she was convinced that he'd understand and forgive her once he knew exactly why she hadn't come with him today, she wasn't as convinced that they'd come to that point very quietly.

"Hey," she said carefully.

"I'm sorry I screamed at you," Harm started off by apologizing.

"I know, it's OK," Mac whispered and glanced into the apartment through the little opening of the door.

"Is Webb there?" he asked her. He didn't sound angry anymore, just very sad and disappointed, like he was ready to give up and surrender.

"No," Mac said forgetting to be quiet for a second. "I haven't seen him for almost a year. What would make you think something like that?"

"Well, I ..." he started.

"Mac," a young scared voice interrupted him. Mac quickly opened up the door and went into the apartment. Andy stood right outside the guestroom and looked rather lost and very afraid. Mac walked over to her and lifted her up.

"It's OK, Honey," Mac comforted. "This is my friend Harm,"

"Is he still angry with you?" Andy whispered into Mac's ear. She was hiding her face from Harm, who was standing just inside the door. He was surprised at the scene he was seeing. He wondered who the girl was that looked so scared yet comfortable in Mac's arms and Mac looked so right holding.

"No," Mac shook her head "He isn't angry with me. Earlier on the phone he'd just gotten some things wrong."

'As usual,' Harm wanted to add. He took a few steps closer, but when the girl noticed that she tensed up and almost strangled Mac and Mac motioned for him to stop.

"Andy, it's OK," Mac said and tried to loosen the girls grip around her neck a bit "Harm's my friend and I'd like you to know him. Will you come and say hello to him?"

Andy shook her head.

"Please, for me," Mac begged.

Harm was too afraid to make it worse by saying anything and if he'd felt bad about blowing up on Mac on the phone earlier, it was nothing compared to how he felt now.

Even though she didn't say anything, Mac felt her relax a little and decided to take that as a yes and walked over so she was standing in front of Harm.

"Andy, this is my best friend Harm. Harm, this is Andy. She's going to stay with me for a couple of days." She'd explain everything in detail to him later.

"Hello Andy, I didn't mean to make you scared earlier," Harm said sincerely. At least Andy was now sneaking a little peak at him.

"Harm, I've got coffee in the kitchen and maybe you could get a glass of water for Andy too," Mac suggested and Harm nodded and left to get the drinks. Mac sat down on the couch with Andy on her lap.

"Here you go," Harm offered Andy the glass of water and she took it looking at him with big eyes that observed his every move. "Mac," Mac took the cup he offered her.

"How's Mattie?" Mac asked. She knew he'd had a meeting with the doctor's to discuss the condition more in detail now and what kind of treatment Mattie needed.

"She ... it's tough for her, but she's determined that the doctors are wrong and that she'll walk again and I can just hope that she's right. The doctors don't give much hope for it though. They just say that with physical therapy hopefully she'll be able to take care of herself, even if it is in a wheelchair."

"Who's Mattie?" Andy asked. Her curiosity had won over her fear, but she was still quite cautiously watching Harm.

"Mattie is a girl who lived ... lives," Harm corrected himself "with me." He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up and moved a little closer to Mac and Andy so he could show the girl the picture of Mattie that he always carried with him. He was careful not to show the picture on the other side. For now the picture of Mac should remain a secret.

"She's pretty," Andy said.

"Yeah," Harm nodded. He was proud of his little girl. "She had an accident and she's in a hospital now," Harm continued to explain.

"Is she OK?"

"No," Harm shook his head "Not really. She hurt her back and the doctors say that she can't walk anymore."

"Maybe they're wrong," Andy suggested.

"We all hope they are," Mac said. She put down her coffee cup and with her free hand she reached over and squeezed Harm's. "Did they say how long she'll need to be at the hospital?"

"At least a month and after that she'll need to go in there every day at first."

"I guess we need to hurry up and find that house then."

"You'll still do that with me," Harm said.

"Of course I will. Did you find anything good today?" Mac continued to ask.

"I found one that seems promising. Maybe you could come with me and look at it."

Andy was starting to dose off again and Mac decided it was better to let her sleep in her bed so she brought her over to the guest room and back into bed for the second time this evening.

"Who is she?" Harm asked her when she returned to the living room.

"You know that case I got yesterday? With the Marine Captain who hadn't shown up for duty. Andy's her daughter."

Mac continued to tell him about her visit to the home where they had placed Andy and how she'd felt like she had to get her away from there. As she expected Harm understood exactly why she'd done it.

"Have you thought this through? He would have done the same, but still he asked her that.

"No, but ... you know, it's just temporary until they find a permanent home for her."

"Don't get too attached," Harm warned her.

There was no way that Mac could say she wouldn't. Instead she told him what Andy had said about her parents. She knew Harm had felt badly seeing how Andy had reacted to him and she wanted him to know there were deeper issues than just the girl hearing him being angry with her

"I'm sorry about that," Harm said. "I had no right getting so angry, I don't know what got into me."

"Well, " Mac shrugged her shoulders "You've been under a lot of stress lately. Anger is sometimes just a way to get it out. And what if the reason for me not showing up had been because of Webb or ... then you would have been right in being disappointed and angry."

"You would never have let something like that come in between us now. I should know that."

"But we're OK now and that's all that matters," Mac wanted to put an end to that topic.

Harm nodded "I have to go home now. I need to start early if I'm going to be able to put in a full-day at the office tomorrow."

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow then."

TBC


	4. Part 4

AN: As always I very much appreciate to read your comments about the story. Many thanks to Alex for betareading.

Part 4 

"You did what?" the general got out when she explained why she wanted the afternoon off.

Mac knew he had understood everything she had told him and didn't want to hear the explanation one more time. She was glad that Andy was in Bud's office looking at the pictures of his family and couldn't hear yet another man being angry with her.

"I didn't think you were one of those too," the general concluded.

"One of those, sir?" Mac asked.

"Who makes decisions and don't think about the consequences and most of all get too personally involved in their cases. How about showing some professionalism?"

"I tried, sir, but you should have seen her ..." Mac knew she couldn't explain this logically, only her emotions could explain why she'd done it.

"Bud will handle this case alone from now on and you have the afternoon off to bring some order into this," the general had softened a little bit, but that was not saying that he was now in any way soft.

"Thank you, sir," Mac breathed out. She knew that the office was heavily overworked at the moment especially with Harm being away so much because of Mattie and she was grateful that she'd be able to make the appointment with the home inspector.

"Dismissed. Get out before I change my mind."

"Yes, sir," she snapped to attention and turned around and left his office. When she closed the door to his office she couldn't help breathing out in relief once again.

"That bad, ma'am?" Coates asked.

"Oh," Mac realized she'd been observed "Well, he isn't exactly in a good mood at the moment."

"I know all about those moments," Coates smiled at her.

"Have you been to see Mattie yet?"

"Not since she woke up, I'm going up there today."

"Say hello to her from me," Mac asked her.

"I will," Coates promised her.

Mac hurried off to Bud's office. She hoped that Andy had been OK while she'd been in with the general. Mac shouldn't have had to worry about her. She was sitting on Bud's visitor chair and looking at a picture of the twins. They looked truly adorable in it.

"Mac," Andy screamed out in delight when she discovered her "He says I can go to his house and play with his children today if I want to," Andy was pointing excitedly at Bud "Can I please?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I should have talked to you first."

"Are you sure that Harriet would be up to that? I mean she has the twins and ..."

"I already talked to her. She'd be happy to help out."

"Well, if you're sure about that we'd sure be grateful. This isn't exactly a very fun place for you, is it, Andy?" Mac looked over at the girl.

"No," she shook her head.

"Then Harriet will be here in just a moment and pick you up," Bud was glad that Mac had accepted their offer.

Half an hour later Harriet drove into the parking lot. Mac had followed Andy down, so that Harriet wouldn't have to get all the kids out of the van.

"Are you sure this will be alright?" Mac asked her.

"Of course, ma'am. It's no trouble. You just come and pick her up when you're done here," Harriet assured her.

"Andy, are you sure you'll be OK going with Harriet?" Mac had bent down in front of the girl. She didn't want her to feel like she too was abandoning her. Andy nodded looking excitedly at the twins that were at the moment sitting quietly in their car seats.

"Alright then. I'll come by sometime after lunch then and pick you up."

Andy got into the car and Mac helped her fastening her seatbelt. AJ was in school so there were just the twins and Jimmy in the car at the moment. "You'll be good for Harriet now, right?"

"Yeah, I will," Andy nodded.

"Ma'am, it will be alright. I promise," Harriet said just before getting into the car.

"I won't be long," Mac said before watching them drive off, but as soon as she couldn't see them anymore, she hurried up to her office to make sure that she'd be able to hold that promise.

When everyone stopped to take a lunch break, both Mac and Harm were still in their offices working. Mac was almost done with what she had to finish before leaving for the day and Harm was still trying to catch up on the paper work he had sort of neglected ever since Mattie's accident.

Half an hour later Mac popped her head into Harm's office.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Well," Harm motioned towards all the files that lay spread around his desk.

"I'm leaving now," Mac said feeling sorry for him. Earlier he had refused any help from her and now she thought he might have accepted it, but with the situation with Andy she couldn't offer much to him anymore.

"Say hello to Andy," he said.

"I will. Someone from social services is coming over at two o'clock to check my apartment."

"Oh, that's not fun," Harm spoke of his own experience.

"It's pretty clean and I've got food in the fridge so I hope it will be alright," Mac told him. Harm had told her about the home inspector that had come and visited him before he became Mattie's guardian and how food had become such an issue.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will be alright, Mac. Will you call me when it's over?"

"Yes," Mac nodded. "You'll eat something tonight, won't you?" Mac said knowing he, just like she, had skipped lunch.

"I'll eat with Mattie at the hospital."

"Good," she smiled at him.

When Mac walked up to the door of the Roberts' house she was glad that at least everything seemed calm on the outside. She knocked on the door and soon Harriet came and opened up for her.

"Did everything go OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Come on in," Harriet offered.

"I'll make it up to you," Mac promised.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I could help. The little ones are sleeping and Andy's in the kitchen," she continued when Mac looked around a bit confused by the silence of the house.

Mac smiled.

"Do you have time to stay for coffee?" Harriet asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. I have to go straight home, but ... maybe we could do it some other time. I miss talking to you," Mac realized that they really had had very little contact ever since Harriet had quit JAG and she definitely needed to put more effort into the friendship.

"I'd like that," Harriet smiled at her. They started walking towards the kitchen. "If you need help tomorrow, I'd be glad to keep her here then too. AJ will be home in the afternoon so then it will probably be more fun for her too."

"Well, I guess that meeting will determine that," Mac said thinking about her 2 o'clock appointment.

"Good luck, ma'am."

"Harriet, please. It's Mac."

"I know."

Mac couldn't help breaking into a smile when she saw Andy sitting at the table hunched over a paper with a green crayon in her hand. She remained silent for a while just watching the girl focusing really hard to get a specific detail right on the drawing. She went over to sit down on the chair beside her.

"Did you have a good time here with Harriet and the kids?" she asked her when Andy looked up at her.

"Yeah. They screamed a lot sometimes, but Harriet let me help with the babies and I played a little with Jimmy."

"That's good. Let's go over to Harriet and say thanks for today and then we need to get going."

"OK," she nodded. Harriet got a quick hug from Andy and Mac once again thanked her for the help.

On the way over to her apartment Andy told her more in detail about what had happened at the Roberts' house during the day. Mac was glad that it had worked out so well. She was starting to get nervous about the visit from the social worker. At least it wasn't the same that she had dealt with before and the one that was coming over, Ms Brown, had sounded quite nice and reasonable when she'd talked to her on the phone to set up the time.

Since Andy had already had lunch with Harriet, Mac just made some quick sandwiches for herself and they sat down at her kitchen table as they waited the last half hour until Ms Brown would show up. Andy continued to color her drawings and Mac picked up a file to read through.

45 minutes later there was a knock on the door and Mac went to open up closely followed by Andy.

"Hello, I'm Danielle Brown. I'm so sorry I'm late, but I had something come up last minute. I'll explain later," she said the last more to Mac. The woman was blond and rather short and skinny. She looked rather childish, but her voice was strong and confident.

"I'm Sarah Mackenzie," Mac introduced herself and reached out her hand to shake hands with Ms Brown who smiled back before kneeling down to Andy's level.

"And you must be Andrea," she said.

Andy nodded. "But I like Andy better."

"OK, Andy it is," Ms Brown concluded.

Mac backed into the apartment to let her step in completely so she could close the door behind her. Ms Brown explained how they were going to do it, that she was first going to take a thorough look through the apartment and then she'd talk to both of them in private.

Ms Brown walked through the apartment slowly and motioned for Mac to follow her. She had obviously done this before and knew what things to look for and what to check. Except for commenting on some chemicals for cleaning that were a little bit to easy for a five-year-old to reach she seemed quite pleased with what she was seeing.

The talk with Andy lasted no longer then ten minutes, but it was still straining Mac's patience to wait outside the closed door. Ms Brown stepped out of the room and started to close it when she saw the look on Mac's face.

"Go on in and check on her first," she offered Mac who relieved went over and into the guestroom.

"I promised Ms Brown I won't come out until you come and get me," Andy assured her.

"You're a good girl, Andy," Mac said and stroked her over her hair. "Knock if you need something, OK? I'm sure it won't be long though."

Mac left Andy and went over to the couch in the living room and motioned for Ms Brown to sit down.

"OK," Ms Brown turned the page of her notebook. "Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, is that correct?"

"Yeah. I'm a lawyer at JAG HQ in Falls Church," Mac explained.

"Right," she scribbled something down on her notepad "And you're single?"

"Ehm, yes," Mac said. Ms Brown looked up and watched her for a second.

"Why is that? Never found the right guy?"

"Well ... maybe something like that."

"Do you want children?" she continued to ask frankly and Mac had to swallow hard.

"Yeah," she nodded "I do, but I can't have them."

Ms Brown didn't react very much. She was used to meeting people with those kinds of problems everyday. She looked compassionately at Mac for a second, but then her professionalism made her continue with the questions.

"I noticed that you don't have any alcohol in the apartment."

"No, I don't," Mac started. She knew she had to be honest. "I don't drink. I'm an alcoholic."

"But you're sober now?"

"Yes," Mac said "My uncle helped me dry out when I was 18. I fell off the wagon once, but it was some years ago."

Ms Brown nodded and continued to ask her some questions about her family history and if she had friends that could help her out with Andy. Mac was starting to get the feeling that Ms Brown was doing this very thoroughly. More thoroughly then she had expected since this was just a temporary situation for a couple of days.

"OK," Ms Brown closed her notebook and put it aside. "Now we'll get to tough stuff. First the explanation why I was late here. We got a letter to our office yesterday and the experts has looked at it and they consider it authentic. It's a letter from Captain Matthews where she writes that she wants her daughter taken care of while she gets her life back together," she reached into her briefcase and got out a copy of the letter and Mac read through it quickly. "She doesn't seem to trust the father's ability to care for the child very much," Ms Brown said when Mac looked up again.

"So she left voluntarily," Mac stated what she and Bud had suspected since day one of the investigation.

"That's my conclusion too, but I guess there are people who are investigating that," Ms Brown shrugged her shoulders "It's been turned over to them now."

"Good," Mac nodded. She wished they could have gotten that information yesterday already, but she wasn't going to work herself up about that right now.

"So right now I have a girl who's parents are both unable or unwilling to take care of her. We have a severe shortage of foster families, I'm sure you're already aware of that, and I think the best place for that girl right now is here."

"Here?" Mac said.

TBC


	5. Part 5

AN: Sorry it took so long, but I had weekend duty last weekend. Thanks for all the encouragement! Thank you Alex for betaing.

Part 5 

"If you're willing I'd like to recommend that Andy would be placed in your care. We don't know when her mother," Ms Brown didn't seem to have a lot of respect for the woman who had left her child just like that "will decide that she can take care of her daughter again and when she does it won't be up to her anymore to decide that anyway. Besides I'm sure the Marine Corps will have some things to settle with her first, won't they?"

Mac just looked at her in shock "You mean she'd stay here for ..."

"I can't tell you for how long it would be. We rarely can with these children, but in my opinion it isn't very likely that Ms Matthews regains custody of her unless she returns really, really soon," she paused for a few seconds and Mac could see her eyes being filled with sadness "Unfortunately there are more of these children then there are good families that will take them in. You know, you'd be doing a really good thing for her. But I'm not going to try to convince you. This is not for everyone."

Mac took a deep breath. She didn't know what to say. Deep inside she knew she could never just give Andy up to the system again if she didn't know she'd be well taken care of where she was going, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she was up to the job of taking care of her.

"This is the number of my cell phone," Ms Brown wrote down the number on the back side of her card and gave it to Mac "Call me when you've made up your mind and I'll make the arrangements for whatever it is that you choose to do."

"I ... I'll call you," Mac said. She walked the younger woman to the door and bid her goodbye.

"You should tell her about her mother," Ms Brown said.

"I know," Mac nodded. She knew this was going to be hard

She took a few breaths to gather herself before she walked over to the guestroom where Andy was waiting. She found the girl sitting on the floor in the middle of the room playing with her doll.

"We have to talk about something," Mac said and sat down beside the girl on the floor.

"Is it about my mom?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, it is," Mac said and the seriousness in her voice made Andy realize this wasn't any good news.

"Did she leave just like yours did?" Mac could hear the sadness of the little girl's voice far too well.

Mac nodded "Yeah, kind of. She wrote a letter to Ms Rowing and Ms Brown's office and it said that she wanted to be sure that someone took care of you."

"When is she coming back?" Now tears were strumming down Andy's cheeks at a fast pace.

"I don't know. She doesn't say. She thinks she needs to fix some things before she can take care of you again."

"I want my mom," Andy throw her arms around Mac's neck and Mac lifted her up to sit across her lap.

"I know, honey, I know," Mac tried to comfort her the best she could, but she knew that the sadness and desperation of the little girl was far to big for her to be able to change at all.

Andy was still crying when the phone started ringing five minutes later. At first Mac considered just letting it ring, but she realized that it was more disturbing to listen to the phone than the actual call would be so she got up from the floor and lifted Andy up to carry her out to the phone in the living room.

"Mackenzie," Mac answered the phone.

"Hey Mac. I know you said you'd call, but ..." Harm started off by apologizing.

"It's OK," Mac tried to reassure him, but Andy's sniffles was heard by Harm through the phone and it made him think it might not be so OK.

"Did everything go well with the social worker?" he asked her worriedly.

"Yeah, but we found some things out that made us quite sad," Mac tried to explain.

"I guess then this isn't such a good idea," he said like he was preparing to end the call.

"What isn't a good idea?"

"The real estate agent is letting me borrow the keys to the house I just thought I'd ask if the two of you wanted to come with me and look at it and then we'd go up and visit Mattie together, but I guess you have other things to do."

"Actually I think that would be a good idea. We need to think about something else, besides I need to talk to you about something." She couldn't be more specific then that right now.

"Good." She could hear him smile "If I come and pick the two of you up in twenty minutes, is that OK?"

"Sure. I'll see you then."

Mac hung up the phone and told Andy what they were going to do. At first she didn't seem to happy about it, but when Mac told her about going to visit Mattie she seemed to brighten up a bit. As they waited for Harm to come, Mac went to call Bud and Harriet and ask if she could take Harriet up on the offer of keeping Andy there over the next day.

Just the look on Harm's face when they parked in front of the house told Mac that his mind was already made up. She and Andy followed him around as he pointed out all the advantages of the house. The current owners son had been in a wheelchair his whole life and so there wasn't any need to make any adjustments for Mattie before she could come and live there. It was a one-storage house with four bedrooms, a living room and kitchen off course. Though it was probably the smallest house in the neighborhood, it didn't feel very small and for the little family that Harm and Mattie made out, it was just perfect.

In her heart Mac knew it didn't matter what she said about the house, he'd still want it, but she was still focusing hard as they walked through the house to see if she could find anything that Harm hadn't already thought of. It was very plain and in a way boring, but Mac had the feeling that that was exactly what made Harm so attracted to it. He would be able to remodel it into any style of his own choice.

"It's nice, Harm. I think you found exactly what you need," she said as she concluded her assessment of the house.

"You know if I start moving to buy it tomorrow, I can probably have it done in time for Mattie to get out of the hospital. I'd hate for her to have to stay there any longer because I don't have anywhere that she can stay."

"I can't tell you what to do, Harm, but I'll help you as much as I can with whatever you decide."

"I know that," he smiled at her.

"Can we go now?" Andy was starting to get impatient. She didn't think it was a lot of fun to look at this empty house.

"Andy, we're going to take our time here. You'll have to be patient," Mac told her in a firm voice.

"I just want to look at one last thing again," Harm said and started walking away towards the kitchen. "Wait here and I'll be right back."

Five minutes later he returned and they walked out to the car. After making a quick stop at the real estate firm to drop off the keys, they were on the way to Mattie's hospital. It was a relatively long drive and Harm and Mattie had discussed having her transferred to a hospital closer to DC once she was stable enough for that. However the drive went fast as they talked the whole time. Mac was glad that Andy seemed to be warming up to Harm.

When they walked into Mattie's room, she was looking out the window and as she turned her face towards the sounds from the door, they could see that she'd been crying. She was surprised to see Mac and a little girl accompanying Harm and though her cheeks were still wet from tears she tried to smile at them. Harm was quick to walk up to her and bring out a napkin to dry off her tears.

"Hey Mattie," he said and with his eyes he asked her if she wanted to be alone. Mattie shook her head no. She knew she'd have plenty of time during the night to bury herself in self pity and tears, and so for now she could just as well enjoy the fact that not everyone had forgotten about her.

"It's nice to see you up, Mattie," Mac walked over to the other side of the bed.

"I'm not so much up these days," Mattie said "But it's nice to see you too."

"This is Andy," Mac introduced the little girl who was clinging on to her hand. "She's staying with me ... for a while," she added.

"Hi Andy," Mattie tried to smile a bit more whole-heartedly.

"Hi!" Andy said "Are you sad 'cause the doctors say you can't walk anymore?"

"Andy," Mac berated her. She knew that Mattie was just like her and Harm in that way, she hated it when other people saw her weak and pointing out that they had seen her cry wasn't very good.

"It's OK, Mac," Mattie said. "Actually I think I'm more sad because my father isn't coming to see me."

"I'm sad too," Andy said "My mother went away."

"I'm sorry. My mother died a couple of years ago."

Mattie and Andy continued to talk until Andy realized that she had to use the toilet and Mac and she had to rush away to find one.

As Mattie and Harm was left alone, he started telling her about the house.

"I wish I could move back to the apartment. I want things to be the way they were before," Mattie told him referring to the time before she had reconciled with her father.

"Things will never be like they were before."

"I know, but I just ... I just hate the fact that you have to change so many things in your life now to take care of me. Especially when I left and ..."

"Mattie, it wasn't your fault that things didn't work out with you and your father. I know you tried your best and I'm so proud of you for that," he leaned forward to stroke his fingers over her check and across her hair. "All I want now is for you to get better so you can get out of this place, OK? Just focus on that and I'll take care of the rest." He smiled reassuringly at her.

Both of their heads turned towards the door when they heard a few quick knocks on it. Mac had closed it when she and Andy left.

"Come in," Mattie said.

"Look who we ran into in the hallway," Mac said and stepped aside to let a new visitor into the room. This time Mattie didn't have to force a smile. "Jen," she screamed out.

"Hey Mattie," Jen rushed over to the bed and kissed Mattie's cheeks several times as they continued to giggle.

"No one told me you were coming today."

"No?"

"No."

The two girls continued to talk for several minutes until all of the laughter in the room was interrupted by a big growl from Andy's stomach.

"Hungry, huh?" Harm said.

"Yes," Andy responded.

"Why don't you and I go and get us all something for dinner?" Mac suggested to Harm.

Harm looked questioningly at Mattie, but she just nodded "I don't mind, I'll have a nice bag of fluids dropped into my arm all night, what do I need food for?" she tried to joke.

Harm looked at her for another second before he nodded in approval of Mac's suggestion. Andy wanted to stay with the big girls so Mac and Harm left alone.

"I didn't realize that she couldn't eat yet, I'm sorry," Mac said as they were walking towards the hospital cafeteria.

"It's OK, Mac. Even the doctors say that's just temporary," he said "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It's about Andy."

"You've got proof now that her mother left voluntarily."

"Yeah, it seems that way. Bud says they're going to charge her with desertion when they find her."

"So what happens to Andy then?"

"That's just the thing. The social worker who came to the apartment today said she'll recommend for her to stay with me. If I say yes, that is."

"Oh," Harm said "You're not sure you want to do it."

"It's not so much that. I mean I'd love to have her live with me. To have someone to come home to. Someone who mattered more than anything else. But that's just what I'm worried about. That maybe I want it more for me and she could be a lot better off with someone else."

Harm looked at her with a face that seemed to say that he didn't know what she was talking about.

"I didn't have the best role models when it comes to being a parent and I'm not sure I could be a good one for her. Not as good as she deserves. And that's putting aside all the practical stuff like the fact that I live alone, work a lot and travel and ..."

"But the social worker obviously saw something that made her think you were up to the job."

"It's so strange. I told her about my alcoholism and my parents and ..."

"But you've worked through those things. You know what I think? I think that she saw how much you already care about Andy and the fact that you're worried you won't be good enough just proves that. All parents worry about that from time to time."

He stopped walking and slightly touched her arm for her to stop as well so that they were facing each other. "I can't tell you what to do. This is a far too important decision and you have to make it on your own, but you should know that there's no one in the world that I think would make a greater mom than you Mac. And you're not alone, never forget that. You have Harriet, Bud and Jen and ... me. You've got me."

"Thank you, Harm, " she tried to blink the tears away as she leaned up towards him and embraced him. Harm was quick to wrap his arms around her and holding her tightly to him. "You're already the great father I always knew you'd be."

He brushed his hands over her hair. "I ... think we need to get that food soon or they'll come looking for us."

"Yeah, I guess so," She took a step away from him and before she got her hands up to brush the tears away from her cheeks he was already there with his thumbs.

"Let's go," he said and took her hand. She smiled as she braided her fingers with his.

Twenty minutes later they returned with cartons of what was probably not delicious, but at least eatable food. There were sounds of laughter coming from the room and Harm was starting to get a bit worried that everything would be too much for Mattie. She still needed a lot of rest to get better.

As they entered the room he could also see that she was starting to look really tired and he decided that once they had eaten, he would make sure they'd get going so Mattie could go to sleep.

The atmosphere of the room during the dinner reminded Mac a lot about how things had been when Mattie was still living with Jen across the hall from Harm and she'd come over to have dinner with the three of them. Andy fell perfectly into the picture. As soon as they had all eaten Harm ushered them to say goodbye to Mattie and get going back towards DC.

Andy fell asleep after just five minutes on the road.

TBC


	6. Part 6

AN: Thanks to everyone who's sent feedback. It's very appreciated. Thank you Alex for betaing.

Part 6 

A little more than a month later the judge appointed Mac as Andy's guardian. There was still no word on where Andy's mother was and after the first weeks Andy had stopped asking about her. Despite her earlier doubts, Mac was now starting to feel very comfortable in her role as Andy's parent. She knew she made mistakes at times and the social worker had warned her that Andy might start being obnoxious just to test her, but so far so good. A big reason that things had gone so well was all of the help from her friends. As soon as she'd told Harriet that Andy might come to live with her more permanently, Harriet had offered to have Andy at her house during the days when Mac worked or if Mac had to go away because of a case. It had taken some discussion. The last thing Mac wanted was for Harriet to feel like she was being taken advantage of. However the agreement they had made seemed to be working out very well so far. Little AJ and Andy had become friends very fast and Harriet had confided in Mac how much she liked the positive effect that Andy had had on AJ. This fall they were going to start the same class in school.

In the meantime Mattie's rehabilitation had gone very well and a few days ago she had been allowed to go home and live with Harm in his new house. She still had to go in to the hospital every day, but it was still a big step forward for her to sleep in her own bed. Harm had been lucky to get the house just in time for her release.

So excited with these two positive things that had happened, Harm had suggested that they'd throw a party together celebrating both Mattie's homecoming and Andy's permanent home with Mac. They had thrown it together in just a couple of days, but luckily most of their friends had been able to accept their invitation.

"Andy, you have to get dressed now or we'll be late," Mac tried to talk as calm as she could. Andy had been running around the apartment for close to twenty minutes now full of excitement. "We can't leave until you've gotten dressed."

"Mac, are we having cake at the party?" she asked for the sixty-eleventh time.

"Yes, but if we don't get going soon we'll miss the whole thing," Mac motioned towards the dress that lay on the chair beside the bed again. She was starting to feel rather stressed. She really wanted to get over to Harm's house and help him with the last of the preparations.

Eventually Andy started helping and then it took just five minutes to get her dressed and soon they were walking down towards the car with all of the food that Mac had prepared the previous evening.

As soon as they walked into Harm's house they got busy to work. Andy helped Mattie blow up balloons and Harm and Mac got everything ready at the back of the house where the barbeque was. It had barely been done one minute before the first guests started to arrive and soon the back porch was full of friends that were laughing and talking to each other. Harm had encouraged Mattie to invite some of her friends as well, and after some discussions she had called her two closest friends. He knew that she had been pushing them away while she was in the hospital, but he hoped that this could help Mattie to come over her shame and fear of being in a wheelchair.

"You know I think I must take some of that back that I told you in my office a month ago," General Cresswell had walked up to Mac who was currently in charge of the barbeque.

"I'm sorry, sir," Mac didn't understand what he was talking about.

"I mean I think you're doing well with your little girl."

"Thank you, sir," Mac said "It's not an easy job."

"No, it's not," the general agreed. "But it has it's rewards," he smiled as Andy and AJ with proud faces came running up to Mac to show her a worm they had found under the rose bushes. Mac admired the worm for a while before encouraging them both to go and wash up since the food was almost ready.

Everyone was thrilled about the grilled chicken and different kinds of potato salad that was being offered and Harm and Mac exchanged several looks of pride over the success the party was turning out to be. Later Harm was standing in the kitchen preparing the cake and softly humming along on a song as Mac walked in with a big stash of plates.

"Have I told you what a great idea this was?" Mac asked him walking up to stand next to him.

"I can take hearing it again," Harm turned towards her and smiled. She was surprised by the flirting look in his eyes.

"Thank you so much for coming with me to court on Tuesday. I don't think I could have done it without you."

"Don't be silly, Mac. I didn't do anything, not like you did for Mattie and me. I just sat there."

"Exactly. You were there," Mac looked up into his eyes and Harm brushed a few strains of hair away from her face and couldn't stop himself from leaning forward and softly brush his lips over hers.

"I always will be," he whispered.

Before Mac had a chance to respond he had already stepped back and was working on the cake again.

"The cake is as good as done, so if you'd just take out the small plates over there..."

"Sure, Harm." She was going to let it pass for now, but this was definitely something they'd talk about later.

It didn't matter how much fun the party had been, once the last guests had left the house Harm and Mac sighed in relief. It was nice to have some calm and quiet again. Mattie was entertaining Andy in her room while Mac and Harm went out to the kitchen to start bringing some order to the chaos there. Luckily there was a washing machine here so they didn't have to wash everything by hand, but it still took a little while. Harm was wiping the last counter when Mac softly grabbed a hold of his arm and turned him towards her.

"What was that about earlier?" she asked him.

"The kiss?"

"Yeah," Mac said though she knew he knew what she was talking about.

"I ... just felt like it. I didn't think you'd ... mind."

"I didn't," Mac smiled at him. "I'm just not so sure ..."

"... we should complicate our lives further ..." Harm broke in not just because he knew what she was going to say, but because he felt the same way.

"... the way things are right now."

"I know," Harm nodded in agreement.

"So maybe we shouldn't do that again," Mac said and it pained her more than she had expected.

"No, I guess not."

"Friends?" Mac stretched out her arms just like Andy did when she wanted a hug.

"Best friends," Harm confirmed and engulfed her in his arms. They remained standing together holding on to each other, both unwilling to let the other go.

"I think I need to get home and get my little monster to bed," Mac explained as she later reluctantly let go of her hold on him.

"Yeah, I need to help Mattie to get into bed soon too," Harm said.

"It was a nice day."

"Yeah, it was. We should do it again."

"Yeah." They walked through the living room towards Mattie's room. Both broke into smiles as they saw Mattie sitting with a book in her hand with Andy perched on the floor with her head leaning on Mattie's legs.

"I think she'll fall asleep any moment now," Mattie said looking down on her.

"You're probably right," Mac agreed. She wanted to protest when Harm went over to scope Andy up and carry her out to the car. Though Andy hadn't taken to Harm right away, now she was totally comfortable around him.

"I'll see you at work on Monday," Mac said as Andy had been placed in the car and Harm was standing leaning on her still opened car door.

"See you then."

TBC


	7. Part 7

AN: I hope you're still with me. Many thanks to those who sent feedback and to Alex for betaing.

Part 7 

Mac looked up when there were a few quick taps on the doorpost of her office.

"Hey Harm," she smiled as she saw who was there.

"Hey. Everything OK?" he asked her.

"Yeah. You?"

"I need to ask you a favor," Harm said and closed the door behind him.

"Sure."

"The general is sending me out to the Seahawk for an investigation," he started. They knew that they had both been extremely lucky lately that they hadn't had to go out of town a lot. In Mac's case it was a lot because the general had buried her in administrative work and so she hadn't gotten a lot of cases. At least Harm had gotten two weeks without being sent away since Mattie had moved into the house.

"You want me and Andy to come over and stay with Mattie?" Mac asked.

"You'd do that?" Harm said surprised that she had guessed so fast what he was going to ask her.

"I'd love to," Mac said affirmatively. "I told you I'd help you out, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He smiled at her "I'll help you back whenever you need it, OK?"

"I know. You're leaving right away?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to call Mattie and tell her about it. Can you pick her up from the hospital after work?"

"Yeah," Mac nodded.

Andy had been thrilled when she found out that they were going to sleep over at Harm's and Mattie's. Mattie was her biggest idol and she was always thrilled when she could spend time with her. Mac had a feeling it helped Mattie too to have the little girl admire every move she made. Mattie was moving along very well with physical therapy and she was making progress even though they were not at a pace that suited her. She was still determined that she'd walk again regardless of what the doctors said. Though on the outside she seemed to be coming to terms with everything that had happened to her, Mac knew from what Harm had told her that a lot of it was just Mattie putting up a brave front when she was around other people. On the inside there was still a lot of anger and hurt.

When Mac and Andy came by the hospital to pick her up Mattie was already waiting outside. Mac could see her barely hiding the disappointment that Harm had been sent away. This had been an issue the first time she had lived with him as well and she still hadn't quite gotten used to it.

Andy however tried her best to cheer Mattie up and by the time they got into the house and Mac was making dinner for the three of them, she could hear the sounds of Mattie and Andy playing and talking like they normally did.

Harm had left a note with some instructions and tips on how everything worked around there, but most of all it was another thank you for the help.

There was one guestroom in the house and it was decided that Andy would stay there while Mac took Harm's bedroom. Andy didn't find any problems falling asleep in the new place and Mattie soon followed and went to bed early as well. Eventually Mac was the only one awake in the quiet house. She sat down by the coffee table in the living room and did some work on a case she would hopefully be able to close tomorrow.

The first minutes in Harm's bed felt a bit weird, like she was invading his privacy even though he had offered it to her, but after lying awake for almost an hour, which was what it usually took for her to fall asleep, she drifted off into dreamland.

The case that Harm had at first thought he'd be able to wrap up quickly ended up being a lot bigger. He worried about how things were going along at home, but there really was no need for him to worry about that. Once Mattie got over the disappointment of him not being there, she enjoyed having Mac and Andy around and Mac didn't feel that living here was burdening her at all. Mattie still needed a lot of help, although not as much as she and Harm had thought Mac realized. Harm could always devote all of his time to her, but Mac also needed to take care of Andy so Mattie ended up doing more things for herself.

On Friday afternoon, Mac took the girls to the video store to rent some movies and then they ordered in pizza that they enjoyed in front of the TV. Though she had already seen the movie four times Andy was at once quite engulfed in the search for Nemo, but once it was over she wasn't far from being asleep and after some encouraging from Mac she agreed to go to bed.

"She's asleep?" Mattie asked when Mac walked into the kitchen. Mattie had started cleaning up in the living room.

"Yeah," Mac nodded. "It took about two seconds."

"Are you still up for watching 'Love, Actually'?" Mattie asked and pointed at the second DVD they had rented.

"Definitely," Mac said.

They went back into the living room and Mac loaded the DVD-player for the second time this evening and then she cuddled up in the couch with a blanket around her. She had seen the movie once before, she realized as it started playing, but this time she definitely had nicer company. When the end credits started rolling she looked over at Mattie and their eyes met in a smile.

"I really liked this one," Mattie concluded.

"Yeah, me too."

"Why is it that you and Harm never got together?" Mattie surprised Mac by asking.

Mac looked at her with raised eyebrows. She wondered how much Mattie knew about the two of them. Telling her the old story about them being just friends crossed her mind, but she realized that it was already too late for that.

Mac sighed before she started "Complications."

"Does Andy and I have anything to do with it?" Mac got the feeling that this was something Mattie had been wondering for a while.

"No, no," Mac said a bit too fast and Mattie just felt more sure about her suspicions.

"You know we wouldn't mind. I mean Andy and I. She already feels like a little sister and stuff."

"I'm really glad she has you. You take the time to talk to her," Mac was grateful for the possibility to change the subject away from her and Harm.

"She reminds me a lot of ... of someone I used to know."

"Yeah, in what way?"

"You know how she's always so excited in meeting new people and she's so trusting despite everything she's been through."

"I couldn't understand that at first. Except for Harm she just embraced everyone from the start."

"But she likes him now."

Mac nodded in agreement. "Was it after your mother died that you didn't feel like you could trust people anymore?"

Mattie just nodded "Yeah," she looked up at Mac "How did you know it was me?"

"I don't think that part of you is completely gone, Mattie."

"I'm not sure I can ever be like that again."

"Of course everything that happens to us change us in some way, but it doesn't change who we are deep down. That stays the same." Mac looked over at Mattie and when she saw the tears, she got up from the couch and went over to wrap her arms around her. "Mattie," she sighed out.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start crying on you," she apologized, but Mac immediately hushed her silence.

"It's OK, Honey. You shouldn't keep everything inside."

"It's just that I really miss talking to Harm," Mattie said when the tears had stopped falling down her cheeks. Mac just nodded slowly in agreement.

"Are you OK with him being gone now?"

"Yeah. It's his job, it's what he does, I shouldn't be taking it personal. Besides I think this time it was really good for me," Mattie paused for a few seconds "I've been focusing so on being able to walk again and I haven't tried to adjust to life in this," she motioned with her hand at the wheelchair "But I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that it will be a while until I get out of it and I don't want to spend that time as a baby who needs constant supervision. I'm going to learn to take care of myself again."

"That sounds great, Mattie," Mac nodded.

Mattie took another deep breath "I think I better go to bed now."

"Me too," Mac agreed. She went to help Mattie get into bed and then she went out into the kitchen to make a last check that everything was OK. When the phone started ringing her stomach turned itself into a knot. Getting late calls was rarely good news.

"Rabb residence," she answered it.

"Mac," Harm's voice came over the phone and it sounded quite far off.

"Is everything OK?"

"Yeah, now that I'm talking to you they are."

"You've been flying," Mac stated.

"Yeah," he admitted "How'd you know?"

"Your voice," Mac smiled. "Do you know what time it is here?"

"Did I wake you up? I didn't mean to, I just wanted to talk to you ..."

"No, I was still up. Are you sure everything's OK?"

"The case is solved. The only problem is that the JAG here was involved and I have to stay here until the replacement comes."

"So you're not coming on Monday?" Mac said and sighed disappointed.

"No, I'm not. I'm sorry, Mac. I know you must want to get home. I'll call Jen and ..."

"Harm, that's not it. Things are going fine here, don't worry about it. I'm just ... missing you ... a lot."

"I miss you too," Harm sighed in relief "I've been thinking so much lately about you and about ... us."

"Me too," Mac nodded as she played with the cord to the phone. "Sometimes I wonder if we're not making things more complicated simply by trying to avoid the complications."

"I'm thinking the complications will probably be worth it," Harm admitted.

"So exactly what are we thinking?" Mac asked rhetorically. "That we should try this, us, out."

"I know I'd love to."

"So would I," Mac said and Harm could only imagine the smile on her face.

They were silent and listened to each other's breath.

"Mac, I have to go now. They're starting to bug me about the phone here."

"I can't wait for you to get home, Harm."

"Me neither."

"I'll see you then, whenever you get back here."

"Yeah, I'll see you then," Harm sighed "Bye, Mac."

"Bye," Mac said and took a deep breath "Harm," she suddenly said hoping she'd catch him before he hung up "I love you." She was suddenly scared of what his reaction would be and she quickly hung up the phone before he had a chance to react or respond.

TBC


	8. Part 8

AN: I hope some of you do remember this story. I was forced to abandon it for a couple of months, but now it's back with the final two chapters. I'm afraid it hasn't been beta-read, so all mistakes belong to me. Hope you enjoy!

Part 8

The next week went well. Mac, Mattie and Andy had gotten used to this new routine and everything went quite smoothly. Mac could hardly believe it when she went to bed and realized it had been a week since her talk to Harm. Mattie had talked to him a couple of times during the week, but every time he'd called Mac had been busy with Andy and she hadn't gotten the opportunity to talk to him.

Later that night Mac woke up from some noises coming from the door to the bedroom.

"Andy?" she asked towards the door. It happened sometimes that Andy would wake up in the middle of the night and come into her room because she couldn't sleep.

"No, it's me," a familiar voice said.

"I thought you weren't coming until next week," Mac raised herself up to sitting position.

"The replacement arrived sooner then I expected," Harm explained "I'm sorry I woke you up. I just needed the spare pillow and blanket," he motioned for the wardrobe where he kept things like that.

"You're not going to sleep on the couch, Harm," Mac said in the firm voice that she sometimes used with Andy.

"It's OK," he tried to say, but he was interrupted by her.

"Look, your bed is big enough for the two of us. Just come and lie down here and don't be silly. We're adults, right?"

"Are you sure?" he said still standing with the blanket and pillow.

"Otherwise I wouldn't have suggested it," Mac assured him.

"OK, then," he changed into a t-shirt and then he carefully lay down at the other side of the bed from her. "Did everything go well this week?"

"Yeah," Mac said "It's been fun, but ... we missed you."

"I missed you too," Harm said "Mattie says you've been taking good care of her."

"I don't know if I've done all that much."

"She seems to think you did." He stroked his hands across her arm. He was lying on the side and he could see the contours of her face in the soft light of the moon and streetlights that came through the blinds of the window. "Mac, I love you too."

Mac quickly turned over to lie on the side as well and he could see the relieved smile spreading from her lips to her eyes.

"You knew that, right?"

"I wasn't sure you could say it ... I wasn't sure I could say it myself."

"I love you, Mac," he repeated and closed the little distance between them and placed a soft and gentle kiss on her lips.

"I love you," Mac whispered as she moved closer to him and let him embrace her with his arms.

"Go back to sleep now, Mac. We'll talk more tomorrow," Harm said.

"Good night, Harm."

"Good night."

----

"'Morning," Mac said. She had been lying awake listening to Harm's even heartbeats for several minutes. During the night Mac had remained lying with her head resting on his chest with his arm securely wrapped around her holding her in place and that was also how she had woken up.

"Harm, we need to get up now," she tried to wake him up. She brushed her hand across his chest. It wasn't until she leaned over him and placed a quick kiss over his mouth that he started to react. He smiled and looked straight up in her eyes.

"What ... what time is it?" Harm asked a bit confused with where he was and how he had been woken up, but he was not objecting to it at all.

"7:32."

"God, Mac. It's a Saturday," Harm protested.

"Yeah, well my little darling girl doesn't care about that. And soon she'll come in here and want me to start breakfast so unless you want to explain this ... to her," Mac raised her eyebrows.

The thought of that wasn't so appealing to him apparently, because he quickly agreed and they both started untangling themselves from the sheets and the covers. Mac got her clothes together to go and get dressed in the bathroom.

"Good morning," she said when she met Andy out in the hallway. "Slept well."

"Yeah," Andy said. "Mac, can we have pancakes for breakfast, please?"

"I think that could be arranged," Mac nodded. She turned around when she heard the door to Harm's room open.

"Harm, you're back," Andy squealed out. She ran up and he lifted her up and hugged her. "Mattie, Harm's back," she shouted towards Mattie's room and she started to wrestle her way out of Harm's embrace to run into Mattie and wake her up. Mac and Harm started following her. Mac decided to leave Harm and Mattie alone to reunite and took Andy's hand and went over to the kitchen to start the pancakes.

Half an hour later Harm and Mattie came into the kitchen just as Mac was flipping over the last pancake. Andy had been babbling the whole time, but Mac had heard very little of what she'd said. Her thoughts were circling around her and Harm and she couldn't as she always did otherwise focus on what Andy was saying.

"You OK?" she asked Harm and Mattie. She could see that Mattie had been crying and she wasn't completely sure that Harm hadn't too.

"Yeah, I'm OK," Mattie said.

"Mattie and I were thinking that we'd like to do something for the two of you as a thank you for everything you did for us these weeks," Harm said. He had one hand on Mattie's shoulder.

"And since Andy told me she wanted to go to the zoo, I thought maybe we could all go together," Mattie concluded.

"Yeah," Andy said excited "I want to, I want to."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Mac agreed. "But let's dig into these first," she motioned to the pancakes that were in the middle of the set table.

---

"Andy, you can't go running off like that," Mac said when she for the third time had been forced to run after Andy so as not to lose her.

"Sorry, I forgot."

"Then you need to hold my hand the whole time so you don't forget," Mac said and she took a firm, but gentle hold of Andy's hand. "So where do we want to go next?"

"I want to see the kids' farm," Andy said.

Mattie looked rather tired and Harm looked a bit worriedly over at her. "Why don't you and me go to the kids' farm and Mac and Mattie can sit down at the café over there and hold us places for lunch?"

At first Mattie seemed to want to protest, but then she nodded OK.

"Let's go then," Andy said and took a hold of Harm's hand instead of Mac's.

"Do you want an ice tea too?" Mac asked as they had settled at a table under a big green umbrella outside of the café.

"No, I just want water I think."

Mac went away to order the drinks and soon returned.

Mattie and Mac talked lively and almost missed when Harm and Andy were coming back. It was Mattie who first spotted them and pointed them out to Mac. When Andy caught sight of her and Mattie the little girl slipped out of Harm's hold before he had a chance to react and ran over to Mac and Mattie. Harm quickly ran after her, but he didn't catch up with her until she was already at the table.

After lunch they continued to walk through the rest of the zoo. Andy's eyes were glowing and when they were walking back towards the car she concluded that this had been the best day in her whole life. Harm felt pleased that the day had been so good, because the happier Andy got the happier Mac seemed.

They drove back to Harm and Mattie's house since Mac's car was still there and they needed to pack everything up before they could go back home. Truth be told Mac wasn't really in any hurry to get home.

While Mac first went to pack up Andy's and later her clothes, Harm put on a pot of coffee and made some lemonade for the girls. Mattie and Andy had sat down out on the porch with a game. While the coffee was brewing he decided to go and check on how Mac was coming along. He found her in his room packing down the last of her clothes in a bag and then she closed it. She looked up at him when she noticed his presence in the room.

"Hey, you forgot those," he said and pointed at a pair of socks that were halfway hidden under the bed. He took the few steps over and bent down to get them for her. The only problem was that she had also kneeled down to get them and their head clashed together.

"Ouch," Mac said and Harm pulled her up to sit on the bed beside him.

"Sorry" they both said at the same time. Harm put out his hand and gently stroked his fingers across the spot on Mac's head where they had knocked. At first Mac wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or if his head was actually slowly moving closer to hers. However she was convinced it wasn't just in her mind when the movement stopped midair.

"Aren't you going to kiss me?" Mac said disappointed.

"I've been wanting to do this all day," he told her as he finally moved forward and kissed her. He put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him at the same time as Mac put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

"We have to stop," Harm said as he broke the kiss minutes later.

"I know."

Mac stood up and picked up the socks that had been thrown back down on the floor and put them into the bag. She looked down on her clothes and made sure that there were no signs of their previous activity. Harm was doing the same thing when she stepped up close to him again and put her mouth to his lips and softly kissed him.

"Let's go down to our girl's before they come looking for us," she said and took his hand and led him out of the room. Right before they stepped out on the porch they let go of each other.

TBC


	9. Part 9

**Part 9**

"When is Harm coming home?" Andy asked Mac as they were driving from Mattie's school after having picked her up. They were once again staying at Harm's house with Mattie because he'd been sent out on a case. That had happened several times a month these last three months. Mac's position as the chief of staff had turned more administrative under the general's leadership and he had said he'd try to keep her in the house as much as possible.

"I don't know. He called me at work, but the line was so bad that I couldn't hear what he was saying."

"I hope he comes home soon."

"Yeah, me too," Mattie agreed.

Mac could just nod in agreement with the two girls as she drove the car into Harm and Mattie's street.

"Look," she pointed at the familiar car that was parked in the driveway in front of the house.

"Harm's home, Harm's home," Andy sang. As soon as the car had stopped she rushed to help Mattie get out of the car and then rush into the house.

Mac walked behind them and grabbed their schoolbags and stuff from the car that they had forgotten in their rush to go and say hello to Harm. When she came into the house Harm was already engulfed in a conversation with the girls about the last two weeks that he'd been away.

"Hey Harm," Mac said a bit uncomfortably. They still hadn't told the girls about their relationship and she wasn't quite sure how they were supposed to greet each other.

"Hi Mac," he looked up at her and smiled. "Why don't you go and wash your hands, dinner's almost ready?" he turned back to the girls.

When the girls had left, Harm walked up to Mac and hugged her tightly.

"I missed you, Beautiful."

"Missed you to," Mac said. "You've cooked dinner?"

"I guessed you couldn't hear me on the phone so I decided to surprise you."

"That was nice," Mac said tiredly.

"Tough week, huh?"

"Yeah. "

"So what are we having?" Andy had come back from the bathroom.

The four of them sat down to eat dinner and afterwards Harm ushered the girls to start on their homework while Mac and him took care of the dishes.

"Harm, Andy and I need to get going before it gets too late. I need to get some breakfast for tomorrow and it always takes some time for Andy to settle down at home again after we've stayed here …"

"So why don't you stay?"

"Harm, we need to get home to our … home."

"No, I mean stay here as move in with us."

Mac raised her eyebrows and looked at him wondering what had brought this on. He had been the most unwilling to tell their girls about them.

"Harm you know I can't stay here as your friend."

"That's not what I meant either." Harm shook his head. "So do you want to?"

"Of course I do, but …"

"Yeah, we're moving in here," Andy started to scream behind the closed kitchen door though Mattie tried to hush her.

Harm and Mac jumped up from their seats at the kitchen table.

Mac composed her first of them "Mattie and Andy come here," she said rather strictly.

Mattie and Andy dared nothing else than to come out from their hiding place.

"You've been eavesdropping," Mac accused them.

"Well, we had to," Mattie tired to defend their actions "We knew something was going on, but you wouldn't tell us anything. We needed to find out some way."

"I guess we have been keeping some things a secret from you," Harm admitted.

"It's OK, Harm. Just don't do it again," Andy walked up to Harm and hugged him.

"So you wouldn't mind moving in here with Harm and Mattie?" Mac asked Andy.

"Not at all," Andy paused theatrically between every word.

"And how do you feel about that?" she turned to Mattie.

"I'd love for you to move in here."

"So Mac is there still a 'but' somewhere in there or … ?" Harm looked at Mac.

"No," Mac shook her head "There's no 'but'."

"Yeah," Andy started to clap her hands and everyone joined in her joyful dance.

"We have a wonderful family, don't we?" Harm embraced Mac.

"Yeah we do," Mac smiled back at him.

The end

AN: Great thanks to everyone who has written to me and supported me in writing this story. Thanks to Alex who betaread most of the story.I know some of you are going to be disappointed in the ending coming so soon. I simply don't have time to write anymore and I didn't want to leave you hanging on the story without an ending. Maybe I'll have more time to write sometime in the future and then I'll write a sequel to this story, but I'm not making any promises. However the good news is that I do have a story that I finished before I started writing this one and I plan to post it this weekend.


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